Karekin, 56, is the 132nd supreme patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church. About 90 percent of the 3.2 million people in Armenia are at least nominally affiliated with the church, which was established in A.D. 301. It is considered one of the oldest Christian churches in history.

The Catholicos, as Karekin is known, is based in Vagharshapat, Armenia, and has led the church since 1999 after serving as a priest, bishop and archbishop. He also took advanced theological studies in Austria, Germany and Russia.

On his visit, he will deal with a problem that vexes the Armenian Church and other Orthodox branches as well — the battle between religious orthodoxy that clings to ethnic language and traditions and American culture that emphasizes assimilation and secularization.

"Sure, we have a lot of people with 'ian' at the end of their names, and (they) don't participate in church and other Armenian organizations," Onanian said.

But the Catholicos is reigning at a time of a revival of faith in Armenia with hundreds of baptisms and bursting seminaries, Onanian said. Karekin will urge a similar revival of faith and renewed Armenian identity in congregations from New York to California, said the Rev. Zenob Nalbandian, part-time pastor of St. Kevork.

Onanian visited Armenia in the 1970s when he was 18. He said he found that the youth were not religious but followed religious routines.

"Ninety-five percent (of the population) did not consider themselves Christian, and two or three generations of children had never been brought to church." But the church has taken on a new significance with revival directed by the Catholicos, he said.

In 1990, then-Bishop Karekin began acquiring former communist "Pioneer Palaces" throughout Yerevan, converting them into Armenian Church Youth Ministries Centers for religious, moral and cultural education, according to his biography. That year, he formed the Christian Education Center for the Armenian Church and organized religious education classes in more than 50 public and Sunday schools.

"What this Catholicos is doing is a template for what people in the U.S., South America and other parts of the Middle East face with assimilation," Onanian said.

Kolandjian and Onanian said young Americans have less interest in their ancestral homeland and traditions, but once they approach marriage or having children, they come back to the church.

"They look for a little bit more, and the mission of the church is to provide it," Onanian said. "And they do."

Kolandjian agreed.

"There is a mystical need for people, wherever they are, to come back to their roots," he said, "and it happens again and again and again."